Joseph S. Valacich

University of Arizona | UA · Department of Management Information Systems

Usability—the extent to which a system can be operated to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction—is a hallmark of many successful systems. Identifying usability concerns with existing measures, however, can be problematic. We use biased competition theory (BCT) to explain how interfaces with low usability create at...

Trace data--users' digital records when interacting with technology--can reveal their cognitive dynamics when making decisions on websites in real time. Here, we present a trace-data method--analyzing movements captured via a computer mouse--to assess potential fraud when filling out an online form. In contrast to incumbent fraud-detection methods,...

Ensuring organizational regulatory and legal compliance is a challenging, high-stakes management task. Overlooking or underestimating noncompliance in organizations can result in substantial fines, damage to a company’s reputation, and, ultimately, loss of business. To help alleviate this risk, we explore whether organizations can assess noncomplia...

This article articulates the importance of developing a Theory of Online Visual Aesthetics in the IS tradition, and demonstrates that to date the field is still lacking a theoretical model for explaining online visual aesthetics. To address this gap in the literature the authors propose the Online Visual Aesthetics Theoretical Model, drawn from ove...

Online health interaction (OHI) is an effective and increasingly popular approach for patients to access health information. However, the extant literature overlooks patient satisfaction and the measurement of OHI processes. Using relational communication theory, this study proposes three core dimensions to conceptualize the success of OHI process...

Recent technological advances make it possible to create automated, virtual interviewers, called embodied conversational agents (ECAs). We study how an ECA compares to a human interviewer in three experiments. In experiment 1, we show that two theoretically motivated factors-making the ECA facially and vocally similar to the interviewee-result in t...

In this article commemorating 30 years of the Journal of Information Systems Education, we reflect on our extraordinarily lucky careers together in the academic discipline of information systems. Both our careers and our field have seen continual growth, unrelenting change, and required adaptability. We credit our enduring and strong professional r...

Prior usability assessment research has paid little attention to how product and feature ratings are influenced by the evaluation context. However, the evaluability hypothesis, which guides this research, suggests that the evaluation context is a vital factor in shaping user's assessments and perceptions about technology features. pecifically, the...

One of the benefits of using digital games for education is that games can provide feedback for learners to assess their situation and correct their mistakes. We conducted two studies to examine the effectiveness of different feedback design (timing, duration, repeats, and feedback source) in a serious game designed to teach learners about cognitiv...

Experiencing negative emotion during system use can adversely influence important user behaviors, including purchasing decisions, technology use, and customer loyalty. Assessing negative emotion, however, can be challenging, especially in live Internet settings. We utilize attentional control theory to explain how mouse cursor movements can be a re...

Objective. Humans systematically make poor decisions because of cognitive biases. Can digital games train people to avoid cognitive biases? The goal of this study is to investigate the affordance of different educational media in training people about cognitive biases and to mitigate cognitive biases within their decision-making processes. Method....

Hackers pose a continuous and unrelenting threat. Industry and academic researchers alike can benefit from a greater understanding of how hackers engage in criminal behavior. A limiting factor of hacker research is the inability to verify that self-proclaimed hackers participating in research actually possess their purported knowledge and skills. T...

Digital games are ideal for training complex decision making skills because they allow players to experience decision making processes and consequences. However, training complex skills often results in failure, which may undermine learning engagement. Traditional training methods employing observational learning (e.g., training videos) do not caus...

Identifying when users are experiencing heightened cognitive load has a number of important applications for businesses, online education, and personal computer use. In this paper , we present a method for detecting heightened cognitive load using a technique known as mouse dynamics (MD). We provide an overview of cognitive science literature linki...

Unethical information technology (IT) use, related to activities such as hacking, software piracy, phishing, and spoofing, has become a major security concern for individuals, organizations, and society in terms of the threat to information systems (IS) security. While there is a growing body of work on this phenomenon, we notice several gaps, limi...

As Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become established tools for communication, organizations increasingly use computer-mediated work groups to support various business processes and find creative solutions to organizational problems. In such a context, groups’ creative performance can greatly contribute to organizational succ...

Heuristics can interfere with information processing and hinder decision-making when more systematic processes that might lead to better decisions are ignored. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) of information processing, a serious training game (called MACBETH) was designed to address and mitigate cognitive biases that interfere with th...

A serious video game was created to teach players about cognitive bias and encourage mitigation of both confirmation bias and the fundamental attribution error. Multiplayer and single-player versions of the game were created to test the effect of different feedback sources on bias mitigation performance. A total of 626 participants were randomly as...

The field of information systems (IS) faces a credibility crisis, which threatens its stature as a highly-respected academic discipline. This article summarizes a panel discussion at the ICIS 2011 Conference, where a group of distinguished IS professors offered their unique perspectives on the challenges, origins, and solutions related to the globa...

Only a few studies have examined issues related to sport stakeholders’ (e.g., athletes’, spectators’, and coaches’) perceived value of technology products and its influence on the purchase intention of sport technology. The model of value-based stakeholders’ loyalty toward sport technology (MVLST) is offered to inform customer purchase intentions o...

Use of online social networks is nearly ubiquitous. Use of these services generally entails substantial personal disclosure and elicits significant privacy concerns. This research uses Social Exchange Theory and the impression management literature to examine how privacy concerns can be counterbalanced by the perceived social benefits afforded by a...

Determining a user's affective state can be an important element when trying to understand human-computer interactions. Accurately assessing affect during system use, however, can be very difficult, especially in a non-laboratory setting. Extensive previous research in neuroscience has shown that arousal and valence influence motor control. In this...

While much is known about selecting different types of control that can be exercised in information systems development projects, the control dynamics associated with ISD offshoring projects represent an important gap in our understanding. In this paper, we develop a substantive grounded theory of control balancing that addresses this theoretical g...

This paper describes the process of rapid iterative prototyping used by a research team developing a training video game for the Sirius program funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). Described are three stages of development, including a paper prototype, and builds for alpha and beta testing. Game development is doc...

Proper resource allocation at Border Patrol checkpoints is essential for effective and efficient screening. Improper resource allocation can lead to flushing-i.e., allowing cars to pass through a checkpoint without screening-or cost inefficiencies. To better inform resource allocation, we present a prototype simulation that models the major process...

This research in progress paper describes a novel approach for improving resource allocation decision-making at ports of entry along a border. The approach involves the collection of cell phone header packets to estimate density of a population around a port of entry, and proposes that such data, if collected in real-time, could allow border agents...

This research proposes that the forming of a business-to-consumer (B2C) customer relationship is part of a multiphased technology adoption process where attraction is the first step in this sequence. A conceptual model, called the electronic commerce (e-commerce) attraction model (eCAM), offers a theoretical foundation for guiding two empirical stu...

Introduction to Human Computer Interaction.

Behavioral research in information systems is testing increasingly complex models using increasingly sophisticated statistical methodologies. However, at the same time, the inputs into these models are often unobservable constructs, and are subject to biases such as social desirability or demand effects. Recently, IS researchers have turned to the...

Given the distributed nature of modern organizations, the use of technology-mediated teams is a critical aspect of their success. These teams use various media that are arguably less personal than face-to-face communication. One factor influencing the success of these teams is their ability to develop an understanding of who knows what during the i...

Technology-supported work teams are increasingly used by organizations to support various business processes. Previous literature has examined the influence of various factors on team performance, yet, differences in participants' individual motivational orientation have received little attention. In this study, we aim to understand the effects of...

Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Minitrack

A consumer has different expectations or goals when visiting different Web sites at different times. Indeed, consumers visit sites not only to search for and purchase products/services, but also to have rich, entertaining experiences. These goals or objectives determine what type of tasks the consumer performs at a site; different tasks and goals r...

Understanding privacy is important to individuals and organizations. This research in progress develops a theoretical model that incorporates both actual disclosure behavior and the potential for irrational behavior induced by overriding situational factors presented at the time of the privacy disclosure decision. Actual disclosure behavior is seld...

With the growing popularity of mobile technologies and the increasing use of groups within organizations, it is important to understand the collaboration contexts where mobile collaboration technologies (MCTs) are essential. This is especially critical given the high cost associated with the acquisition and implementation of MCTs and the need to ma...

The Internet website has become an effective marketing vehicle for sport organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine theoretical relationships between key variables of online sport consumption behavior such as sport consumers' perceptions of sport website quality, satisfaction, and behavioral loyalty to the websites. In addition, the me...

An electronic commerce marketing channel is fully mediated by information technology, stripping away much of a product's physical informational cues, and creating information asymmetries (i.e., limited information). These asymmetries may impede consumers' ability to effectively assess certain types of products, thus creating challenges for online s...

With the proliferation of e-commerce, there is growing evidence that online impulse buying is an emerging phenomenon, which has been the focus of researchers from a variety of disciplines. This paper reports on two empirical studies that examine the interplay between a consumer's inherent impulsiveness to buy and website quality. Specifically, cons...

Increasing globalization has created tremendous opportunities and challenges for organizations and society. Organizations attempt to draw on people's varied experience, skills, and creativity, regardless of their location; consequently, a broad range of information technologies to better support the collaboration of diverse, and increasingly distri...

Emergency response systems are a relatively new and important area of research in the information systems community. While there is a growing body of literature in this research stream, human-computer interaction (HCI) issues concerning the design of emergency response system interfaces have received limited attention. Emergency responders often wo...

With the increased use of XBRL, financial data are readily available in a universal format, enabling users to dynamically render data with a variety of visual, interactive representations. However, the impact of these interactive visual representations on financial decision-making has received little attention. Further, decision-making research sug...

Mobile wireless computing is changing the way in which people work, allowing work to occur in a broad range of environments on tasks that previously required fixed location-based, networked computing environments. Along with this greater work flexibility, it is also likely that these mobile work environments contain various types of distractions th...

Studies on groups within the MIS discipline have largely been based on the paradigm of methodological individualism. Commentaries on methodological individualism within the reference disciplines suggest that studies embracing this paradigm can lead to potentially misleading or incorrect conclusions. This study illustrates the appropriateness of the...

A fundamental characteristic of any innovation is its novelty, the newness or freshness of the innovation in the eyes of the adopter. Past research has often considered novelty to be inherent to an information technology (IT) innovation, yet it is also likely that perceptions of novelty differ widely across individuals. Nevertheless, the role that...

ABSTRACT Even though it is widely acknowledged that collaboration underlies much of the decision-making efforts in contemporary organizations, and that organizational groups are increasingly making decisions that have ethical implications, few studies have examined group ethical decision-making processes and outcomes. In addition, while there is in...

With the growing popularity of mobile technologies and the increasing use of groups within organizations, it is important to understand the collaboration contexts where mobile collaboration technologies MCTs are essential. This is especially critical given the high cost associated with the acquisition and implementation of MCTs and the need to make...

Increasing globalization has created tremendous opportunities and challenges for organizations and societies. Consequently, a broad range of information technologies to better support the collaboration of diverse, and increasingly distributed, sets of participants is ever more utilized. Arguably, the success of such technology-mediated collaboratio...

IS 2010 is the latest in a series of model curricula for undergraduate degrees in Information Systems. It builds on the foundation formed by this earlier work, but it is a major revision of the curriculum and incorporates several significant new characteristics. IS 2010 is the third collaborative effort by ACM and AIS. Both organizations have world...

IS 2010 is the latest in a series of model curricula for undergraduate degrees in Information Systems. It builds on the foundation formed by this earlier work, but it is a major revision of the curriculum and incorporates several significant new characteristics. IS 2010 is the third collaborative effort by ACM and AIS. Both organizations have world...

Although the martial arts industry is rapidly evolving into a mature and highly competitive marketplace, only a few studies have been conducted to understand why people participate in martial arts. The purpose of this study is to examine motivation factors that influence an individual's participation in martial arts to provide leaders of the indust...

Mobile wireless computing is changing the way in which people work, allowing work to occur in a broad range of environments on tasks that previously required fixed location-based, networked computing environments. Along with this greater work flexibility, it is also likely that these mobile work environments contain various types of distractions th...

With the proliferation of e-commerce, there is growing evidence that online impulse buying is occurring, yet relatively few researchers have studied this phenomenon. This paper reports on two studies that examine how variations in a website influence online impulse buying. The results reveal some relevant insights about this phenomenon. Specificall...

Past research has extensively investigated the effect of media, especially focusing on how anonymity increases risk-related behaviors of groups when using computer-mediated communication (CMC). This study extends prior research by examining the differences in group risk-taking behaviors between face-to-face groups and completely non-anonymous CMC g...

Given the growing concerns about unethical usage of Information Technology (IT) becoming a major security concern, this research-in-progress paper conceptually models IS practitioner (professional) attitude toward unethical IT use. Based on the ethical notions of universalism and particularism, it argues for a two-dimensional analysis to judge deve...

Emergency responders often work in time pressured situations and depend on fast access to key information. One of the problems studied in human-computer interaction (HCI) research is the design of interfaces to improve user information selection and processing performance. Based on prior research findings this study proposes that information select...

One of the problems studied in human-computer interaction (HCI) research is the design of interfaces that improve user information selection and processing performance. Based on prior research findings this study proposes that information selection can be improved by using multiple, supplementary cues to encode information in interface design. The...

What is the intellectual core of the information systems disci-pline? This study uses latent semantic analysis to examine a large body of published IS research in order to address this question. Specifically, the abstracts of all research papers over the time period from 1985 through 2006 published in three top IS research journals—MIS Quarterly, I...

This paper expands, refines, and explicates media synchronicity theory, originally proposed in a conference proceeding in 1999 (Dennis and Valacich 1999). Media synchronicity theory (MST) focuses on the ability of media to support synchronicity, a shared pattern of coordinated behavior among individuals as they work together. We expand on the origi...

Recent trust research in the information systems (IS) field has described trust as a primary predictor of technology usage and a fundamental construct for understanding user perceptions of technology. Initial trust formation is particularly relevant in an IS context, as users must overcome perceptions of risk and uncertainty before using a novel te...